Japan's shipping companies struggling to stay afloat

In a desperate bid to remain competitive, Japan’s three biggest shipping groups are to merge their container divisions.

The collapse in September of Korea's Hanjin Shipping, one of the world's largest shipping lines, "was testament to the financial pressures weighing on the sector", says the Lex column in the Financial Times. This week the pressure intensified as Japan's three biggest shipping groups, Nippon Yusen, Mitsui OSK Lines and Kawasaki Kisen, said they are to merge their container divisions.

This is the first major reorganisation among Japanese shippers since 1999, reports Nikkei Asian Review. The deal reflects "a growing sense that scale is one of the few remaining ways to survive in the foundering industry".

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Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. 

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.